Nothing Is Okay

by Rachel Wiley

Nothing is Okay is the second full-length poetry collection by Rachel Wiley, whose work simultaneously deconstructs the lies that we were taught about our bodies and our beings, and builds new ways of viewing ourselves. As she delves into queerness, feminism, fatness, dating, and race, Wiley molds these topics into a punching critique of culture and a celebration of self. A fat positive activist, Wiley's work soars and challenges the bounds of bodies and hearts, and the ways we carry them.

Genres: Poetry, Feminism, Queer, LGBT, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Fat

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 20, 2018

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Wiley tackles depression, dating, visibility, identity, and fatness in her poetry. This collection also contains a few list-type poems and tributes to OKCupid which are lighter. She confronts the listener with her experience, so let me share some of it with you here:

Favorites:

Glory in Two Parts
Fat Joke
Solidarity with Miss Colombia 2015

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel, by turns, makes me think, cry, laugh, rage... all the feels. I was lucky enough to see her do a reading of her work here in Minneapolis recently, and I have never been more enthralled at anything. She is brilliant and simultaneously reverent AND irreverant. I adore her and her work. I 100% recommend this book.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a brilliant surprise party here 3 months ago. I have been unable to bring myself to toss out the wilted balloons or to sweep up the confetti. I didn't want it to end. A celebration is just a way of begging the good things to stay. A false promise that we could always be just like this, a false promise worth clinging to, worth living in the aftermath of.

(from "notes on depression")

nothing is okay is an exquisite collection of poems about womanhood, fatness, trauma, depression, loneliness, dating, and broken relationships, among other things. wiley's writing is beautiful and unapologetic, and her poems are accessible yet substantial.

the final poem of the collection, "burying my husband," is one of the best. it's about putting away a lifetime of expectations of marriage, and relishing in the freedom and non-obligation that come with being unattached. good stuff.

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like my self esteem takes a plunge every time I am unable to solve an Econ question right and reading books like this is totally a way to fix that by reminding me that there's more to life than getting questions rights.

In any case, I recently finished Wiley's first collection, Fat Girl Finishing School and liked it so I was excited to read more of her work. Right now, I feel like I can't read anything too heavy (thanks, Econ test) so this felt like a perfect thing to read in between studying.

Wiley is a great poet. Her poetry is just the right amount of empowering yet not cheesy, metaphoric without condescension. I especially found the poems about being bi-racial to be fascinating as well as the poems about queerness. Her voice is so powerful and so beautiful.

In many ways, I could relate to the poems about finding peace within your body and I'm so incredibly happy to reach a point where I can read a poem like Wiley's and feel that it does apply to me. Like dang, if this is what growing old is, I'll absolutely take it. She writes about this so fantastically.

All in all, this is a solid collection. It's engaging and truthful. Wiley's voice comes across as earnest and genuine. I absolutely recommend this if you're in the mood for some positive poetry.

What I'm Taking With Me
- I think I might like her first collection a little bit more but they're both great.
- We don't talk nearly enough about the way most of the "compliments" we give people about their bodies are actually not compliments.
- I just really want Rachel Wiley to be happy.

[Helen (they or he) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Body positivity! Feminism! LGBT! Poetry! Telling off shitty people who send you dick picks! Cussing out at Patriarchy! Hell yeah!

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I immediately bought this book after watching a video of Rachel Wiley read out the poem "Paper Babies." This was a really great, accessible collection of poetry. The writing wasn't too flowery or filled with too many metaphors/similes. Wiley has an amazing way of making you feel so much humor in one poem and then so much anger in the next. I'll certainly be trying to get my hands on her previous poetry collections after reading this and I'll be keeping an eye out for future releases. Highly recommend!

[Jena Blancard · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems were amazing. So incredibly raw and I honestly didn't know what to expect. I saw a few videos of Rachel Wiley on Facebook and just couldn't put off buying the book any longer. Her words are emotional and I could relate them on more than one occasion. I love her spirit and hope to embody a little bit more of that ferocity in my life. Thank you for writing such amazing words. *hugs*

[Karen Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poetry collection is as loud and unapologetic as the author herself. Her voice is a much needed and rare one that represents what it's like to be fierce, fat, mixed and a female in America that is notably hostile towards this demographic. You might like to hear her say these poems in person so I highly recommend this YouTube video of her reading the very first poem in this collection:


But They Said I Will Not Make It

[Samina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

I had heard one or two poems of Wiley's before and thought they were good but this collection is fantastic. Funny, profound and impactful in equal measure. Definitely some new favourites in here. Will be picking up more by her.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to love this! I drove to two bookstores to get it, saw that it was just a few pages long and read it in a couple minutes. I loved her reading of “Paper Babies” and thought the rest of her poems would be just as beautiful. While there were some good ones, I really think that her main themes of “woe is me, I’m overweight, no one loves me, men suck” was a little dramatic. Is that awful? Maybe I just haven’t experienced a lot of her feelings, and while they probably resonate with a lot of readers, it missed the mark for me. It wasn’t a strong pick-me-up for women. I felt she cannot learn to love someone else and expect those feelings to be reciprocated, if she doesn’t learn to love and accept herself first. As much is her poetry is about her being okay with herself, I don’t think she is.

[LaviniaAlexandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wiley misses all points while trying to be so socially relatable.
I found oh so little poetry between the social messages written in an non-ordinary (not extraordinary) format.
I'm not even sure enough that the core of Wiley's material had any potential...


Not to mention some images were slightly disgusting and how much I desired to unsee some of them.


This review is not coming from your everyday thin girl, so don't complain about me not understanding or emphasizing with Wiley. The few lines that were indeed relatable were suffocated by unpleasant imagery and faux poetic flair.

[Ives Phillips · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were more misses than hits in this collection, almost to the point where I would have put this in my DNF pile. But after reading the raving reviews on Goodreads and Instagram, I continued on in the hopes of finding something that made it worth reading, and I did in "Halloween Shopping With My Niece", "Joy Buzzer", and "In the Event the Wind is Knocked Out of You". Those poems were enough to make me a fan of Wiley, but not of Nothing Is Okay.

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fucks with Rachel Wiley. She's a sav. Not to mention, all these poems I relate to immensely. She just goes so hard you feel it. Coming from the intersections of a fat, black feminist - all these poems hit me in the feels. What I like about Rachel Wiley is not only is she brilliant writer, she just delivers straight FACTS. I wanna read Fat Girl Finishing School RIGHT NOW.

[Candleflame23 · Rating 2 out of 5]

نصوص شعرية ساخرة ولاذعة بعض الشيء ..
تنتقد التنمر الذي يتعرض له
عيارات مختلفة من المجتمع .

مش بطال

[Trapeezius Milkington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this and immediately put Wiley’s newest poetry collection on hold when I finished. CW: animal death, mentions of SA, disordered eating, comments from sexual harassers, fatphobia, racism and colorism, sexism

[Jessica Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel you had so many beautiful and heartbreaking lines in here. Thank you for sharing your story. Being a bigger woman with mental illness I related so much to your poetry. I don’t think there was a single poem I disliked. Highly recommend!

[Priscilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stuff. Thought-provoking, with fantastic choice of words.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her poems are so beautiful, so powerful. I can feel myself opening up as I experience them. I have to keep putting the book down so I can breathe. If you don’t cry at least once...

[Steve Stivaktis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful contemporary poetry, full of heart and truth. I loved every single poem, whether it made me laugh or cry.

[Chandra Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find most of Rachel Wiley’s poems relatable, emotional, powerful, and sometimes very humorous. Whenever I hear or read her stuff I find myself wanting to be her friend.

[Zee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew this book was going to be amazing before I bought it. What I didn't realize was what level of amazing it was going to be.

I was scrolling through Facebook Friday morning and someone had shared a reading of Dry Cake Wishes and Tap Water Dreams. I watched it. Four lines in, I was screaming in laughter. I saw the mention for this book, found it on Prime, and kept watching Rachel Wiley's videos--and screaming. Before Nothing is OK had even gotten to my mailbox, I had shed tears over Belly Kisses. By the time I got to the poem on the page, I had Dry Cake Wishes halfway memorized.

And y'all, this whole book is AMAZING. I was scream laughing and fighting back tears from one poem to the next. Wiley is a genius. Covering topics from being of mixed race, to being overweight, to the pitfalls of modern romance and the fear of being forever alone, this book is a masterpiece. It's so relatable and real. My initial reading took twice as long as it should have, because I needed to send Snapchat excerpts to so many people.

And honestly, I mean, there's a poem in here titled Expect-Cum Patronus. How could you possibly go wrong with a poetry book that's so utterly unafraid of terrible, baudy puns?

So if you've never heard of Rachel Wiley, I'd highly recommend checking her out. I was absolutely floored by her poetry, her sense of humor, and her realness. Even if you don't read the book, watch her youtube readings. You won't be disappointed.

[AB Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!! Some poems made me laugh out loud & others made me want to cry. What more can you ask for from a poetry collection?

[Kris Dersch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection! While I think she is better when you can actually hear her read (true of most modern poets, especially those who write in free verse,) these jumped off the page nicely when read and are brutal and in your face in all the best ways. Some humor, although biting, is mixed in...her Ok Cupid rejection letters are fabulous...which keeps the whole thing from sinking under its own negativity which the title makes you think it might. Nothing is okay and yet there is strength and beauty here, that is what elevates this collection.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend of mine sent me this book, and while I had already loved Rachel Wiley's Button Poetry videos, I hadn't yet actually read her stuff. And OH MY GOD bury me with this because she has absolutely murdered me. There is so much of her poetry that I feel down to my soul and she pulls it out in her words so perfectly, not only with wit and cleverness, but also with grace and beauty.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetry is beautiful and painful and perfect.
How dare Rachel Wiley know me like this.

[Ju$tin · Rating 4 out of 5]

best poetry book i've read in a pretyt long time. great job rachel! woo, woo! *swings from chandelier* yeehaw! honk honk! beep beep! bop boo bee bop! yeah!

[Cade · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Belly Kisses” is everything I needed in a poem today. Never ever letting this one off my bookshelf.

[Melanie Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t come across much in the way of poetry by/about fat women, so I was delighted to learn about Rachel Wiley, who has two collections of such work! Nothing is Okay was called the better choice by Goodreads reviewers, but after finishing Nothing is Okay, I definitely plan to pick up Fat Girl Finishing School.

Wiley reveals her identity in an early poem, which gives readers context about the author: she’s fat, female, queer, and bi-racial (a white mother and black father, she explains). The poems explore these identities, including one in which Wiley addresses the people who are “concerned” with fat people’s health:

They all seem so anxious for my heart
like it’s an unattended package at the airport

She continues the poem with memorable imagery of the ways people are certain her heart inside her fat body will fail:

they are certain it is going to attack, my heart,
like a hungry bear on a camp ground
ripping a zipper down my chest, cracking
my sternum like a cheap tent pole.

The violent imagery of the bear mutilating her body struck me, and the tent pole’s weak structure emphasizes how fragile her heart is inside her fat body. Don’t forget, though, that Wiley is writing to people who “care” about her health without being medical professionals, people only making assumptions based on what they see.

Cleverly taking other media and putting them into the form of a poem, Wiley writes “Cooking With Tears” like a brief women’s magazine article. The poem has the happy can-do attitude of those mini articles with which most readers will be familiar. Here is an example combining an advice column with the new trend of excluding certain foods from one’s diet:

When throwing dinner parties, it may be important to remember that some of your guests may have removed tears from their diets due to the effect on the planet or some such nonsense (and despite the fact that not everyone has access to organic fair trade happiness) so it may be necessary to prepare a non-tears option to please all of your guests.

Wiley’s snark is humorous, but she’s also making fun of two institutions that harm fat women: shallow advice and restricted eating. While I recognize that some people have necessary dietary restrictions, and others do so for personal or ethical reasons, it’s common for people to eliminate foods from their diets and claim “health reasons,” but unnecessary food restriction is dieting. As a fat activist, Wiley does not support dieting.

Wiley also uses the medium of rejection slips writers receive to write a poem rejecting creepy messages from men on OkCupid. For example, she responds to a man who sends her the message “wanna see my cock?!“

Unfortunately, we are not accepting Flash Fiction at this time.

If you’re not a writer or working in publishing, you may miss the joke. Flash fiction is short and quick; Wiley’s suggesting that the sender either has a small penis or would be too quick in bed. She cleverly mixes form and content to take a literary look at dating.

And much of her work is about dating, exploring both the flaws of her exes and people on OkCupid and her own issues. She writes a warning letter to all of her exes, letting them know a small army of zombified Rachel clones may show up to their house and profess they are still in love. All exes should brace and defend themselves. My favorite poem is “Dry Cake Wishes And Tap Water Dreams,” which contains all of Wiley’s mediocre desires for one ex:

. . . a lifetime swaddled in beige, skinless chicken
boiled, Kraft singles, steamed rice, and unflavored oatmeal.
I wish him a wardrobe of Polo shirts — tucked in.

The poem had me in stitches because even though it isn’t mean, it does feel like a witchy curse for an unremarkable life full of “Great Clips haircuts,” “engagement photos in an apple orchard,” and “One-ply toilet paper.” Aside from the content of the poem, Wiley makes uses of consonance, assonance, and alliteration to her advantage: the t’s in “Great” and “cut,” the p’s in “ply” and “paper,” and the o’s in “photo,” “orchard,” and “toilet” all create sounds that work to create a poem that’s lovely to read, and not just for the content.

I really loved this collection of poems, which is both cheeky and says something deeper about the culture of fatphobia, dating, and identity. Nothing is Okay demands you to grab someone and read aloud to them. I can’t wait to get my hands on Fat Girl Finishing School.

This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels.

[Scarllet ✦ iamlitandwit · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is endless
We are both so endless and unshielded
and weightless here
in my bed
Weightless
but not the least bit smaller
thank God not the least bit smaller

WOW. Rachel Wiley's collection took me by surprise in the best way possible. From the first poem, I was hooked. Wiley has a way of making her poems and sentence structures easy to read in a way that won't alienate any new readers of poetry but she also infuses wonderfully poetic imagery and wordplays that it made it an absolute delight to read. I loved how she allowed the collection as a whole to not lean into one specific emotion but just experience them all. There were lighter pieces interspersed in between longer serious poems, a laugh to calm your tears. And speaking of tears, I want to mention that a few poems made me cry! So GOOD. So good. I listened to the audiobook, which she narrated herself, and the combo was brilliant and powerful because hearing her passion, her intensity, just absolutely brought her already stunning and proud collection to life.

There were many passionate and honest poems, but I want to shout out a few specific titles that I adored a lot. The ones that I mentioned with stars are the ones that elicited an outward emotional response (either I laughed or cried): "Notes on Depression", "Mixed Girl", "Havisham", "Joyce Carol Vincent: Illusionist"*, "No One's"*, "Dry Cake Wishes and Tap Water Dreams"*, "Sleeping Giants, Belly Kisses"*.

Pure *chef's kiss* like this is a collection that inspired me to write some intense poetry, allowing me to go where I never go when I'm writing because it hurts. All in all, I definitely recommend this and doubly recommend listening to the audiobook.

[Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS is the poet and style of poetry I've been searching for all this time. In a poetic world overwhelmed with cursory, aphorism like "poems," Wiley brings forth a collection of poetry that satiates readers and doesn't leave them hanging. Not only are the poems developed, leaving readers satisfied, but they are also some of the most candid and hard hitting poems I've come across in quite some time. Additionally, one of the many things I admired about Wiley's writing is that she doesn't sugar coat anything; she tells it as she knows it, as she sees it, and does not and will not censor herself, because as you read her poems, you quickly learn that she understands and values the importance of being true to one's self. While reading Nothing Is Okay, I laughed out loud, I nearly wept, I uttered, "oh shit," and I had my mind blown. I can't recommend this collection enough.